Midland ISD parents confused, upset after bus route takes long detour

September 26, 2017 at 9:47 PM CDT - Updated August 14 at 2:00 PM

MIDLAND, TX (KWES) - A few parents are confused after some Midland Independent School District (MISD) students taking the bus got home late last week. The district said it's partly because of their bus shortage, they are currently short 45 bus drivers.

6:40 p.m. is the latest a Goddard Junior High student got home last Friday. MISD said on top of being short 45 bus drivers, they were also short staffed that day and had to double up on bus routes.

"The bus driver went west first instead of going north and so our students who live on the north route were on a bus for an extended period of time, a little bit longer than usual," said Lacy Sperry, Executive Director of Communications with MISD.

Stops on the west round went as far as near the airport, parents were concerned about stopping at a gas station, the district said that's an assigned bus stop.

"Students that we had the challenge with on Friday were dropped off on time yesterday [Monday]," said Sperry. "This is not something that is ongoing on every single bus route throughout all of our campuses and the district."

MISD said because of the bus driver shortage it's possible drivers might have to double up on bus routes again in the future.

"We understand the concern that parents have and even though we are experiencing the shortage of bus drivers we are still working extremely hard each and every day to provide the best transportation service that we can for our students," said Sperry.